Yep, correct! A raft ride :) Imagine going down the flume in Los Angeles or Orlando not knowing which direction you'll be facing (or even turning!). I remember reading a step-by-step description of the ride somewhere on the web a while back and it sounds really different! :) Can't wait!

A cool twist, but it doesn't really make sense with the theme. The River Adventure is modeled off of the novel, in which it is stated that there is a river cruise ride. A rapids ride in an animal exhibit doesn't really fly with me.

I'm always a fan of making every iteration of a specific ride unique to each park. A rapids-style ride definitely makes it more thrilling. There will be increased dread for the final hill as well as increased chances for solid dinosaur shocks. It should be noted, however, that the final hill will not be nearly as tall or steep as the stateside versions.

I watched a video, (might have been linked off Screamscape but I thought it was on here), some time ago, showing one of teh Universal big cheeses talking through the plans for US Simgapore and explaining the rides.

From memory his description of the Jurassic Park Rapids was that you start out doing a gentle 'white water' experience through the VeggieSaurs enclosures, but when you reach the disembarkation point a flash flood prevents you from disembarking and sweeps you down the river into the dangerous zones. After swirling through the Raptor enclosures and some caves (I think) you were eventually swept up into some sort of water purification plant or a sewage works or something, (can't remember what exactly). This features a vertical lift as part of the storyline, and you eventually escape via the chute. I suspect there are two chutes because otherwise a single lift mechanism would not give the through-put necessary for a high-occupancy ride like this. If you have been to Phantasialand in Germany their River Adventure rapids has a similar vertical lift that uses two side by side lifts to maintain throughput. Having listened to the official storyline I have to say it made a lot of sense and sounded really good - a great re-invention of the ride. The rafts will add a whole level of re-rideability that will make it much more fun for multiple rides.

A raft ride is always a bonus to a theme park and Universal did a great job with Popeye but, I think that a spinning raft ride would lose a lot of the theme of Jurassic Park. I always hoped that they would do a jeep ride similar to what was in the movie.

Edit: Just watched the POV video of the ride. The theming looks identical to the IOA version. I think it is better as a boat ride.